Type A behavior and processing of social conflict information

Research suggests that the Type A pattern as assessed by the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) involves a number of stress-engendering cognitive/social responses. To identify potential responses responsible for social stress, the study tested the relationship between JAS Type A behavior and several cognitive/social variables relevant to assertiveness situations. Male undergraduates completed two measures of cognitive complexity and rated the reasonableness of another's request. Also, subjects were evaluated for positive content (i.e., consideration of the other) in role-played assertion responses. Type A behavior correlated with lower differentiation when sorting aspects of an assertion situation, lower integrative complexity when thinking about conflict topics, and less inclusion of consideration content.     

Cognitive Heuristics and AIDS Risk Assessment Among Physicians1

Physicians (N= 331) reported perceived risk of HIV exposure, worry about on-the-job HIV exposure, and experience with patients who test seropositive for the HIV. In addition, the use of the availability heuristic was examined by responses to questions about talking and reading about AIDS, and the use of the simulation heuristic was examined by responses to questions about imagining oneself being exposed to HIV on the job. Simulation of the HIV-exposure experience related significantly to perceived risk (p < .001), even after variance attributable to actual experience and use of the availability heuristic was taken into account. Availability of AIDS information related marginally to perceived risk after variance attributable to actual experience and use of the simulation heuristic was taken into account. Simulation related strongly with worry about on-the-job exposure (p < .001), and availability was not significantly related to worry after variance associated with simulation and experience with AIDS was removed. Implications of these results for physician training are discussed.     

Designing an effective worksite smoking cessation program using self-help manuals,incentives, groups and media

Pilot studies indicate that the workplace is a successful site for the implementation of smoking cessation programs (Jason et al., 1987a; 1987b;). Cessation efforts using monetary incentives have had yielded increased success in abstinence (Kleges & Cigrang, 1989). This article provides an overview of previous efforts at worksite cessation programs and outlines a new study that will use self help manuals, incentives, and group support sessions in a multilevel intervention in an attempt to identify successful components of worksite programs. The four year project will attempt to develop a comprehensive worksite program that is capable of being implemented by individual companies. To this end, sixty corporations will receive one of three programs and a week long television newscast on WGN-TV will be aired to accompany the interventions. An overview of the project is presented.The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Grant Number 42987).     

Experienced closeness and distance among family members

This study looks at experienced emotional closeness among family members using a projective measure, the Family Paper Sculpture. Results support the hypothesis that, in a non-clinical population, experiences of extreme closeness and extreme distance may be different manifestations of the same underlying process. Some support is found for the hypothesis that families in which relationships are experienced as very close or very distant at one point in time may experience those same relationships as extreme in the opposite direction at another point in time. Global coding of taped family interactions supports the hypothesis that extremes of experienced closeness are associated with more conflict, less ability to resolve differences, and less warmth and support among family members. It is suggested that the experience of being very close, varying through time with the experience of being very distant, may be associated with disappointed attempts to achieve closeness with autonomy.worked on this research while a graduate student in psychology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.David C. Bell, PhD, completed work on this report while at Texas A & M University. He is presently working on a book about connection and dependency.The studies reported here were supported by grants from the National Institute for Mental Health and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The authors would like to thank David Gutterman, Sheila Jones, Judy Nunn, and Theresa Rourke for coding the global scales.     

Reconstructive group therapy with HIV-affected people

This paper describes reconstructive group therapy with people affected by AIDS. It begins with the therapeutic need as we defined it in the AIDS-affected community and the practicalities of the group therapies we offered. The reconstructive perspective, based on personal construct theory, is then explored and applied to interpret both the psychosocial functioning of AIDS-affected people and group therapy. The group therapy process is described: client engagement and group beginnings, goals, group rules, leadership roles, group experiments, group issues and endings. Some problems that arose are then identified; and a sample of group process is provided. Finally, the appropriateness of the reconstructive perspective and of group therapy for these clients is discussed, together with the identification of the major ethical issues and some recommendations for its use.     

Influence of children's positive self-perceptions on donating behavior in a naturalistic setting

The present study investigated the effects of self-perceptions on the donating behavior of 43 fourth-grade students. The children had two opportunities to donate gum to another class. Half of the students received feedback after the first donation period indicating that they were particularly generous. These children subsequently gave more than children in the control group (p<.05). Sociometric measures indicated that the perceptions children had of themselves and others were related to donating. The results were similar for both males and females. Children process new information into their cognitive systems. The resulting cognitions help guide future behaviors.     

Associations between risk factors,developmental outcomes,and executive function in neonatal intensive care unit graduates at 2 years: A retrospective study

This study explores the extent to which medical and sociodemographic variables and cognitive and language skills are associated with executive function (EF) skills in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates at 24 months of adjusted age. We explored cognitive, language, and EF skills in 42 NICU graduates who participated in a NICU follow-up programme clinic. The association between risk factors and EF and the completion of the EF assessment were explored. Correlational analyses revealed that child gender was associated with EF scores. Analyses revealed cognitive skills, language skills, and multiple gestational births were associated with EF assessment completion. Our findings are among the first to examine EF skills in NICU graduates as young as 24 months of age using a multidimensional, child completed measure. Implications for NICU follow up programmes, the consideration of early interventions aimed to positively affect EF skills, and considerations for future studies are discussed.     

Infants’ understanding of auditory events

Infants’ reaching‐in‐the‐dark was studied in a sample of normal 7.5–11‐month‐olds to determine whether infants can use sound cues to localize and recognize the action and objects of complex events. Infants were shown an event in which a moving, sounding object rotated clockwise through the infant's reaching space in the light and dark. Infrared recorded videotapes were later coded for reaching behaviour. Results showed that infants were able to localize the object on most trials in the dark but were slower and less efficient than in the light. Infants grasped the object at first contact and contacted the object near its salient feature in the dark, suggesting recognition of the object. Further, contact time was 1.7 s less when infants grasped the object at first contact in the dark (recognition) than when they touched the object, suggesting that recognition of the object improves reaching efficiency. There were no age and gender differences. In sum, the results support the use of the reaching‐in‐the‐dark method to demonstrate auditory localization of moving sounds and to reveal infants capacity to use represented information to guide subsequent action. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Imitative violence in the real world: A reanalysis of homicide rates following championship prize fights

Recently, Phillips [Am Soc Rev, 1983; 48:560–568] reported that the homicide rate increases on the third day after heavyweight championship prize fights. The present paper reports a reanalysis of Phillips's data using more sophisticated statistical techniques and examining several theoretically important variables not discussed by Phillips or his critics. Using a conservative analysis strategy, our results suggest that the increases in homicides reported by Phillips were not a methodological artifact as suggested by Baron and Reiss [Am Soc Rev 1985; 50:347–363, 372–376]. The homicide increases only occur on the first weekend or holiday after prize fights that receive the greatest publicity.